By TANIA PHILLIPS
JUST months after watching an erosion cell sweep across their beach, Fingal’s heartbreak has turned to joy with Fingal Head Beach named the NSW Clean Beach of the Year.
It was double joy for the small Tweed Coast Village with the town’s public school taking out the “Young Legends” award at the ceremony held in Sydney on Friday.
Delighted Fingal Head Coastcare president Kay Bolton said while it was called the Clean Beach Award, it was so much more.
“Although this program is still known as the Clean Beach Awards, keeping the beach clean is only a very small part of it,” she said.
“The award is more about the community working together to provide for sustainable use and protection of these very fragile coastal environments.
“For example to qualify for the overall clean beach award we had to show some competence in all six categories – community partnerships, environment protection, safety and services, promotion of youth, litter and waste management, preservation of cultural heritage and sustainable water use.
“It is a great honour to be top in the state and it really shows that the Fingal Head community is really pulling together to maintain this very special place.”
Kay said the win by the local public school was also a major boost for the community.
“We are really pleased that we were able to assist the FH Public School win the Young Legends Award,” she said.
“Working with the youth is essential, as we all know the future is in their hands and working with and listening to what the FH kids have to say I think the future of Fingal Head is in very good hands.”
Fingal were also highly commended in the State Environmental Protection Award.
“We won the state award (in this category) last year and to be recognised again is fantastic,” she said.
“I think we must be doing something right.”
It is the second time in three years that a Tweed Coast Beach has taken out the major award with Maggies Beach, between Cabarita and Hastings Point, winning the top honour in 2011.
Cabarita continued that success this year with a highly commended in the Safety and Services Award.
The Keep Australia Beautiful NSW Clean Beaches – Connecting our Coast Awards encourage and recognise coastal communities, local councils, volunteers and surf lifesaving clubs who protect this state’s beautiful coastline.
The program empowers these groups to actively work for a cleaner, more sustainable environment through the sharing of knowledge, experience and resources. Dune and habitat conservation, environmental education, anti-litter, waste management and visitor friendly initiatives are among some of the projects that are awarded.
Fingal Head received the Overall Award for their impressive all round work including:
* Re-establishing a littoral rainforest environment adjacent to wetlands and dunes degraded since the 1950s and 1960s. Gradually the landscape has been transformed from a wasteland to a balanced ecosystem with the help of local community groups, Tweed Shire Council and various organisations.
* Rehabilitating dunes, surrounding forests and wetlands as an important habitat for many native animals. The number of bird species recorded in these regenerated forests has increased from 28 in 1960 to 238 species in 2013, these include endangered, threatened, migratory and sea birds.
* Fingal Head Coastcare has a long-term commitment of 28 years to re-establish and protect the coastal and dune biodiversity.
* Fingal Head students assist with the re-establishment of the endangered ecological community of Fingal Beach headland and maintain the endangered littoral rainforests. The students also worked on establishing a water-wise and bird-friendly native garden in the school yard. The pupils over the years have developed a sense of ownership and stewardship for Fingal Head area and they value, respect and care for their local environment.
